Subtitle: One Thousand
Years Of Utopia Finally Realized On Planet Earth

Men have long dreamed of a perfect society in which everyone can live
together in peace and harmony--a world in which all needs will be
met and barriers such as race, nationality, education, income, and environment
non-existant. And prior to World War I many Christians believed that mankind
was gradually making progress in that direction and society would get better
and better until the goal was realized. However, after two World Wars and
a third apparently in the making--those still holding to that belief are
as hard to find as chicken dentures. But an active plan continues among
occult circles in which their version of utopia will be realized by ridding
the world of sectarian strife. "Religion," they say, has caused more bloodshed
than any other single reason and must be abolished. And to achieve this
goal they set into motion the massive world-wide program known as the "Ecumenical
Movement"--spearheaded by the Pope--which is designed to bring together
as many diverse systems of belief as possible and consolodate them. Then
when the time is right, their "christ" will be welcomed with open arms
and the master plan fully implemented. Massive "population reductions"
will rid the world of undesireables (specifically those who are fiercely
monotheistic--Christians, Jews, and Moslems) and the rest will subjugated
and ruled--"benevolently", of course--by an intellectual and social elite.
Utopia? For the masses who will spend their lives as literal serfs, the
definition is hardly appropriate.

But take heart world! There is another plan--a timeless plan--by which
a literal heaven on earth will be realized. Before the universe was spoken
into existence, God determined that His Son would rule and reign over this
world from a throne in Jerusalem. One thousand years was set as the duration
and in His Word we are given many glimpses into what it will be like and
how it will come to pass.

Of course the term "millennium" itself is not found in the Bible.
It is made up of two words in Latin--"mille," meaning "thousand" and "annus,"
for year(s). However, the phrase "a thousand years" is found 10
times--twice in the Old Testament (Psalms 90:4-- Ecclesiastes 6:6), and
eight times in the New.

The first reference that provides us with information about the purpose
of the thousand year period is found in Revelation 20:2-3, where we read:

"And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent,
which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, [3] And
cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon
him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years
should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season"
(KJV).

Here we have a very clear statement that one of God's angels is going
to bind Satan, cast him into the "bottomless pit" (outer space?), and set
a seal upon him in order that he not be able to "deceive the nations" any
more--until the thousand years are ended. And even though it is
nowhere directly stated, we must infer from this that his hordes of demons
are included--either imprisoned with him or otherwise rendered inactive.
Then, according to God's plan, "he must be loosed a little season"--released
from imprisonment for a short period of time. Why must he be released?
Hang on to that question and, Lord willing, we will answer it later--because
before we can offer an explanation that will make sense, more ground work
must be done.

Beginning with the patriarchs whose offspring eventually became the
nation of Israel, God spoke to them through His prophets and added "precept
upon precept and line upon line, here a little and there a little" (Isaiah
28:10 and 13). And over time they began to piece together the fact that
one day "Messiah the Prince" (Daniel 9:25-26) would come to deliver them
and usher them into a golden age of peace and tranquility. And two of the
main passages in the Old Testament that promise this are found in Isaiah,
chapters 11 and 65:

"And there shall come forth a Shoot out of
the stock of Jesse [David's father], and a Branch out of his roots shall
grow and bear fruit (2) And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of knowledge and of
the reverential and obedient fear of the Lord. (3) And shall make Him of
quick understanding and His delight shall be in the reverential and obedient
fear of the Lord. And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, neither
decide by the hearing of His ears; (4) But with righteousness and justice
shall He judge the poor and downtrodden of the earth; and He shall smite
the earth and the oppressor with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath
of His lips He shall slay the wicked. (5) And righteousness shall be the
girdle of His waist, and faithfulness the girdle of His loins. (6) And
the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with
the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatted domestic animal
together, and a little child shall lead them. (7) And the cow and the bear
shall feed side by side; their young shall lie down together; and the lion
shall eat straw like the ox. (8) And the suckling child shall play over
the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's
den. (9) They shall not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, for the
earth
shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
(10) And it shall be in that day that the Root of Jesse shall stand for
a signal to the peoples; of Him shall the nations inquire and seek knowledge,
and His dwelling shall be glory--His rest glorious! (11) And in that day
the Lord shall again lift up His hand a second time to recover--acquire
and deliver--the remnant of His people which is left, from Assyria, from
Lower Egypt, from Pathros, from Ethiopia, from Elam [in Persia], from Shinar,
from Hamath [in Upper Syria], and from the countries bordering on the [Mediterannean]
Sea. (12) And He will raise up a signal for the nations, and will assemble
the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from
the four corners of the earth. (13) The envy and jealousy of Ephraim also
shall depart, and they who vex and harass Judah from outside or inside
shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex
and harass Ephraim. (14) But [with united forces] Ephraim and Judah will
swoop down upon the shoulder of the Philistine's land sloping toward the
west; together they will strip the people on the east [the Arabs]. They
will lay their hand upon Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites shall obey them.
(15) And the Lord will utterly destroy--doom and dry up--the tongue of
the Egyptian sea [the west fork of the Red Sea], and with His [mighty]
scorching wind He will wave His hand over the river Nile, and will smite
it into seven channels and cause men to cross over dry-shod. (16) And there
shall be a highway from Assyria for the remnant left of His people, as
there was for Israel when they came up out of the land of Egypt.
Isaiah 11:1-16 (Parallel Bible, KJV/Amplified Bible commentary)

Verses 1 through 3 are obviously speaking of Jesus Christ, the Son of
God--the Messiah of Israel--during His first advent. But equally obvious
is that verse 4 and following did not happen at that time. During His
brief life on earth Jesus Christ did not judge the poor nor decide for
the meek. He did not smite the earth with the rod of His mouth nor slay
the wicked. But the day is rapidly approaching when He will! These introductory
verses are telling us about what is going to happen at the close of the
Tribulation Period when Jesus Christ returns to earth. His adversary, Satan,
will have the combined armies of earth arrayed in the valley of Meggido,
northwest of Jerusalem in a "last-ditch" attempt to fight against Him.
But they will all be destroyed by "the breath of His lips" (vs.4) at Armageddon--He
will but speak the Word and blood will flow to the depth of a horse's bridle!
(Rev.14:20). In Matthew 24:29-31, the Lord gives us additional insight
into the events that will take place:

"Immediately after the tribulation of those
days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,
and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall
be shaken: [30] And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven:
and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the
Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. [31]
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they
shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven
to the other" (KJV)

Zechariah 12:10 tells us that at this time the "house of David" and
the inhabitants of Jerusalem will "look upon Him whom they pierced" and
morn. The Jewish people will finally recognize--most of them too late--that
Jesus of Nazareth was in fact their promised Messiah and they committed
regicide by "piercing" Him on the cross. It is the end of the Tribulation
Period and they know that the "christ" they welcomed earlier is none other
than Satan incarnate--the antichrist. And the realization of these facts
will overwhelm them as they view the Son of God coming in "the clouds of
heaven with power and great glory." His angels will scour the earth and
bring every living soul--survivors of the most awful time to ever occur
on earth--to appear before Jesus Christ, where He will sit as their Judge.

"When the Son of man shall come in his glory,
and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of
his glory: [32] And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall
separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the
goats: [33] And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats
on the left. [34] Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand,
Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from
the foundation of the world" Matthew 25:31-34 (KJV)

Later He will add:

"Then shall he say also unto them on the left
hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the
devil and his angels" Matthew 25:41(KJV).

This separation of the "sheep" from the "goats" and the subsequent banishment
of the lost to hell is, as we saw in our last article (www.cuttingedge.org/articles/p195.htm),
concurrent with the resurrection of the Tribulation Period martyrs and other
saints who died of natural causes during that time. So what we have at this
point is a group of living believers who have survived the Tribulation Period
, along with a host of both Old and New Testament saints in glorified bodies--who
will enter the "Kingdom of Heaven" together. The phrase "Kingdom of Heaven"
refers to an earthly Kingdom ruled from the heavens and is synonymous with the
Millennial Reign.

This brings us to Isaiah chapter 65 mentioned earlier:

"(17) For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth
and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. (18) But be
glad and rejoice; for behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people
a joy. (19) And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and be glad in My people; and the
sound of weeping shall be no more heard in it, nor the cry of distress. (20)
There shall be no more be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old
man who dies prematurely, for the child shall die a hundred years old, and the
sinner who dies when only a hundred years old shall be [thought only a child,
cut off because he is] accursed. (21) They shall build houses and inhabit them,
and they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them. (22) They shall not
build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat the fruit; for
like the days of a tree shall be the days of My people, and My chosen and elect
shall long make use of and enjoy the work of their hands. (23) They shall not
labor in vain or bring forth [children] for sudden terror or calamity; for they
shall be the descendants of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with
them. (24) And it shall be that before they call I will answer, and while they
are yet speaking I will hear. (25) The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and dust shall be the serpent's food.
They shall not hurt or destroy in all My holy Mount [Zion] says the Lord" Isaiah
65:17-25 (Parallel Bible,
KJV/Amplified Bible commentary, emphasis mine).

Verse 17 catches our attention because it sounds very similar to a statement
made by the apostle John in Revelation 21:1, in which he says that he saw
"a new heaven and a new earth." But we believe the two events are actually
separated by the thousand years as we hope to demonstrate. Notice the passage
in Isaiah 65 says "new heavens (plural) and a new earth." The Hebrew word
translated "heavens" refers to the sky and not the abode of God--which
we believe is the case in Rev.21:1--even though the Greek ouranos
can
also refer to the sky. The reason we believe that they are separate creative
acts is because of what we find in Isaiah chapter 40: (the second will
be covered later).

"Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your
God. [2] Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her
warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received
of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. [3] The voice of him that crieth
in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the
desert a highway for our God. [4] Every valley shall be exalted, and
every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made
straight, and the rough places plain: [5] And the glory of the Lord
shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of
the Lord hath spoken it" Isaiah 40:1-5 (KJV, emphasis mine).

As we stated at the outset, man has always yearned for a perfect environment,
blaming the lack of it, along with other factors--such as poverty, ignorance,
etc.--for the lawlessness of mankind. In other words these things have
been, and still are, used as an excuse to deny the fact of man's inherent
sinfulness--his fallen nature, the depravity of his heart. So God is going
to fill in every valley, lower every mountain, and in general renovate
the earth! It is my opinion that God is going to restore the earth to its
original "Garden of Eden" environment and the tree of life will once again
be made available (Rev. 2:7 and 22:2). Note that in the preceding
passages, it repeatedly states that the lamb will live and feed with the
wolf and the lion will eat straw like an ox. In Eden before the fall of
man, the rose did not have thorns and animals did not have fangs. The "survival
of the fittest" with its meat-eating carnivores came about in nature
as a direct result of Adam's fall from grace. Paul speaks to this fact
in Romans 8:

"For (even the whole) creation (all nature) waits
expectantly and longs earnestly for God's sons to be made known--waits for the
revealing, the disclosing of their sonship. (2) For the creation (nature) was
subjected to frailty--to futility, condemned to frustration--not because of
some intentional fault on its part, but by the will of Him Who so subjected
it. [Yet] with the hope (21) That nature (creation) itself will be set free
from its bondage to decay and corruption [and gain an entrance] into the glorious
freedom of God's children" Romans 8:19-22 (Parallel
Bible, KJV/Amplified Bible commentary).

Then when we refer back to Isaiah 11 above, we
see in verse 9 where "they" (the animals) will not "...hurt or destroy
in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of
the Lord as the waters cover the sea." Not only will mankind be "full of
the knowledge of the Lord," but the instincts of the animal kingdom will
be changed as well and all will be tranquil and serene. Satan and his demons
will be captive and no one will be able to make a legitimate claim
that, "The devil made me do it!"--as in the humorous line made popular
by the comedian Flip Wilson a few years ago.

But lest I get too far ahead, we need to consider
the last comments of Isaiah 11--which deal with the remnant of Israel--those
elect members among God's chosen people who have been hounded to the ends
of the earth by the forces of antichrist, but have survived. According
to Daniel 12:11-13, the interval between the end of the Tribulation Period
and the establishment of the Kingdom, appears to be 45 days. And the way
verses 11-16 of Isaiah 11 read, it appears that during this time--before
the sheep and goat judgment--God will lead the remnant of Israel back to
the Promised Land of Caanan and in coming they will "strip" the Arabs,
lay their hands on the peoples of Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites
will obey them! Those coming from the area of Assyria will have the "way
paved before them" as God clears out all obstructions and those coming
from Egypt and the south will be able to cross the Nile River "dry-shod"--without
getting
their feet wet! The statement that the "people on the east"--the Arabs--will
be stripped, argues for the fact that the sheep and goat judgment will
not have taken place at that point.

Once the judgment is completed, the elect survivors
of the Tribulation Period--still in mortal bodies--will enter the
Kingdom to populate it. But we must not forget that an innumerable host
of resurrected saints possessing glorified bodies--just like the one now
occupied by the Lord Jesus Christ--will enter the Kingdom as well. Apparently
the Old Testament saints will join with their Tribulation Period counterparts
in making up the core constituency of the populace--a society in which
Israel will be the center of the earth and Jerusalem the home of the King.
The elect of the Church Age will serve in many different supervisory positions--the
relative importance of each probably determined by the Lord at the Judgment
Seat of Christ. But our primary focus must be upon those who enter as sinful
humans. Each and every one of them will be saved, but still in a body
of flesh and therefore possessing a depraved nature. This
is a very important point and we must not overlook it.
The Jewish remnant among them will doubtless be ecstatic! They will have
finally realized the dream of Jews for thousands of years--being able to
live under the rule of their Messiah in a wonderful state of peace and
tranquility. Isaiah 11 tells us that "Ephraim and Judah" (God's names for
the two factions in Israel's civil war) will unite and not "vex" each other
any more.

So the picture we have before us is one of utter and absolute happiness!
And as we turn to Isaiah 65 again, we find that God says in verse 18:

"But be glad and rejoice; for behold, I create
Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. (19) And I will rejoice in
Jerusalem, and be glad in My people; and the sound of weeping shall be
no more heard in it, nor the cry of distress"

In A.D.70, both Jerusalem and the Temple were
destroyed by the Roman legions of general Titus. And from that day until
God creates "Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a joy," the city and
her people will be anything but joyful. But during the Millennium, Jerusalem
will literally be the site of the throne of God and joy will be the order
of the day:

"And the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they
shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away"
Isaiah 35:10 (KJV)

"For the Lord shall comfort Zion: he will comfort
all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and
her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found
therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody" Isaiah 51:3 (KJV, emphasis
mine). ("Garden of the Lord" refers to the Garden of Eden)

"For your shame ye shall have double; and for
confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land
they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them" Isaiah
61:7 (KJV)

"For thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will extend
peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing
stream: then shall ye suck, ye shall be borne upon her sides, and be dandled
upon her knees" Isaiah 66:12 (KJV)

Not only are they living in a perfect environment
and have every conceivable need met, they are also under a perfect government.
The Lord God Himself rules "with a rod of iron" (Rev.12:5) and lie detectors
are not needed! Wrongdoers will be caught immediately and punished under
a system of perfect justice. Imagine, if you can, the inclination to do
wrong coupled with the knowledge of not being able to "get away with it."
My imagination tells me that for the most part, this will be a thousand
years of self-imposed "righteousness" by those still in mortal bodies!
But lurking beneath this idyllic surface is the hideous fact of human depravity.
And as the centuries pass, multiplied millions of children will be born
to to the original inhabitants--each of them as depraved as their parents--born
in trespasses and sins (Eph.2:1). And like their parents before them, they
will be required to believe or perish. Their environment will include--
as the central element--a perfect system of worship in which God Himself
will be living among them and demonstrating all of His perfections on a
daily basis. There will be no excuse for lack of worship and it will be
expected of every creature, but belief--absolute and unwavering trust in
Jesus Christ--will be given "lip service" by the unsaved among them. Will
their false worship go unnoticed? Of course not! The Lord knows what is
in their hearts and their pretense will be revealed in due time. Without
a doubt, some among them will be so hard-hearted that they could not care
less and will make no effort to hide their sinfulness. These, I believe,
will be among those the Lord refers to in verse 20 of Isaiah 65:

"There shall be no more be in it an infant that lives
but a few days, or an old man who dies prematurely, for the child shall die
a hundred years old, and the sinner who dies when only a hundred years old shall
be [thought only a child, cut off because he is] accursed" (Parallel
Bible, KJV/Amplified Bible commentary).

Long life, enjoyed by mankind prior to the judgment
flood of Noah, will be restored during this time and some of the accursed
will die at the age of one hundred (or more) and be thought merely a child!

Then beginning with verse 21 of Isaiah 65, we
find the Lord stating a principle of the Kingdom which speaks directly
to the hearts of the descendants of Israel (Jacob). Throughout their long
and checkered history, they have been through many periods of revival,
subsequent decline, and then judgment. God's blessings upon them during
the times of spiritual revival always resulted in material gains--houses,
lands, and bountiful crops. But inevitably these things would be lost to
invading armies in times of judgment as God punished them for their sin.
And this "revolving door," up-and-down, endless cycle underscores the fact
that the only thing we learn from history is that we do not learn from
history! Please note I said "we," because Israel is representative of
all mankind in this respect. But during the Kingdom, God says this
cycle will be broken--all will be able to enjoy the fruits of their labor,
without another taking it from them. And for those brethren who still insist
that the Kingdom will not last a thousand years, all I can say is take
a close look at verse 22:

(22) They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat the fruit; for like the days of
a tree shall be the days of My people, and My chosen and elect shall
long
make use of and enjoy the work of their hands.

"Like a tree shall be the days of My people" and long shall they
make use of and enjoy the work of their hands. The "General Sherman" Sequoia
in California's Sequoia National Park--a living tree-- is now estimated
to be about 3500 years old! But even at that advanced age, it does not
qualify for the world's oldest. That distinction belongs to the "Bristlecone
Pine" species growing in the White Mountains of eastern California--many
of them believed to be over 4,000 years old. And that length of time indicates
they probably sprouted shortly after the flood waters receded in the days
of Noah. So living a thousand years is not such a stretch of the imagination.
Prior to the flood, Methuselah lived to be 969 (Gen.5:27) and he was not
living in a perfect environment.

And in the next verse (23 of Isaiah 65) we find that children will be
born to them:

(23) They shall not labor in vain or bring
forth [children] for sudden terror or calamity; for they shall be the descendants
of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them.

Even a relatively small number of Tribulation
Period survivors entering the Kingdom would result in a population of many
millions (possibly billions), after living for a thousand years in a perfect
environment. This would, in many respects, mirror the population prior
to the flood of Noah's day.

Finally we come to the question raised at the beginning--Why must Satan
be "loosed a little season"? The answer is, to prove to "the principalities
and powers"--the angelic hosts of the supernatural sphere, both "good and
bad"--that Satan's alternative plan to run things is a lie and will not
work. According to what we can piece together from accounts in the Bible,
he is jealous of God and insists that his way is better. This jealousy
led to a rebellion in heaven, in which one third of the angels were apparently
enticed to join with him (Rev.12:4). These are fallen angels the Bible
calls "devils" (literally "demons")--foul and unholy spirits which still
plague humanity to this very hour. In the Garden of Eden Satan tempted,
or tested, Eve by making three basic assertions: Number
one was, "Yea, hath God said?" (Genesis 3:1). In other words,
"Did God really say this?"--thereby casting doubt upon the Word of God.
Secondly, he made the statement, "Ye
shalt not surely die!" But God had told Adam and Eve when placing the prohibition
upon eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, that "in the
day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." (Genesis 2:17).
So number two was a blatant lie and a contradiction of the Word of God.
Both Adam and Eve suffered immediate spiritual death upon
eating of the forbidden fruit and began the process of dying physically.
Then surprisingly enough--number three
was the truth! Or at the very least, partially so--because God did know
that through the sin of disobedience their eyes would be opened to the
difference between good and evil. But for two people created perfect in
every respect, that knowledge was not something to be desired! And as their
offspring, all of us who are mentally competent know the difference--but
view it from the perspective of being at the bottom of an infinite spiritual
chasm (compare the "great gulf" of Luke 16:26). Total depravity is the
result of orignal sin and the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ the
only possible solution, if anyone is to be rescued from that chasm.
The
perfection
required by God's own holiness and righteousness, dictates that He alone
is qualified to pay the debt! The Bible teaches the principle
that "the wages of sin is death" (Rom.6:23), so God Himself had to die
a sacrificial death if He was to redeem sinful and fallen men. This He
did on the cross in the Person of His Son, Jesus Christ.

So if we study very carefully the subjects of sin and eternal salvation
as they are presented in the Bible and then compare God's claims with Satan's
claims, we find that the two concepts are as far apart as light and darkness!
God says that He must save man and Satan says man can save himself. God
says "trust in Christ for salvation" and Satan says "earn
salvation by doing good works." Therefore, it is this supernatural clash
of two opposing wills that provides us with the explanation for why Satan
"must be loosed for a little season." By releasing him, God intends to
prove to all creatures--both supernatural and human--that the sinful,
depraved human heart has been the cause of man's problems all along and
not his environment, education, ethnicity, money, food, etc.,
or the lack thereof.

We are now at the end of the thousand year reign of Jesus Christ and
must bear in mind that everything in the entire world has been perfect
for the duration. There have been no wars, no hunger, poverty, disease,
crime, or any good thing withheld from mortal man and he is left
with no excuse for wrong behavior. Then into this idyllic scene
Satan is suddenly introduced, having been released from his prison. He
behaves as predictably as always and immediately begins to entice men to
rebel, convincing them that Jesus Christ must be overthrown so that he
can take His place and be their king. The pent-up resentment and anger
in sinful hearts forced to "behave" for a thousand years because of not
being able to do wrong and get away with it (like many kids who grow up
under the strict discipline of parents!), explodes and multiplied billions
(Rev.20:8--"the number of whom is as the sand of the sea") quickly succomb
to Satan's wiles and enlist in his "army". With murderous intent they rally
together and march upon the holy city of Jerusalem and the throne of their
King. And once they have the city surrounded, fire will come "down from
heaven and devour them all" (Rev.20:9). Their actions will prove for the
rest of time and all eternity that God is right and the devil wrong.
Unregenerate man is spiritually dead and his very nature holds nothing
but enmity for God. No amount of "good deeds" or good intentions on his
part can possibly merit eternal life and he does wrong--he sins--because
of his sinful nature. As has been said so many times--we sin because
we are sinners, not sinners because we sin. Satan's lie has always been
that man is not depraved and still retains "a spark of divinity within
him"--needing only to be developed--and he (Satan) is just the one to develop
it! An insatiable quest for enlightenment has long been the hallmark of
the "dark side" and secret societies such as the Rosicrucians and Freemasons--along
with many allied groups--seek eternal life through their own works. Cain,
the first-born son of Adam and Eve refused to offer the sacrifice God required--the
blood of an innocent animal--and insisted upon the fruit of his own labor.
And that clash of wills at the dawn of mankind marked the dividing line
between faith and works. The subject we are now considering marks the ultimate
end of the latter!

Once the ridiculous attempt at rebellion is neutralized, Satan will
finally "get what's coming to him"! He will be thrown into the lake of
fire, where he will join the Beast and the False Prophet--reuniting the
unholy trinity for an eternity of torment. Then the Great White Throne
judgment will take place in which the lost of all ages--the unregenerate
spirits of those without Christ, including those just consumed by fire
while following Satan--will be judged according to their deeds, as recorded
in the "books" (plural) (Rev.20:12). (And prosecution exhibit number one
will be the fact that not one of their names will be found in "the book"
(singular)--the "Lamb's Book of Life" Rev.21:27). Eternal punishment will
be meted out in proportion to the relative degree that sin ruled their
lives. In other words, this judgment of works will mean that "moral" men
will not be judged as harshly as the extremely wicked.

But even though at this point sin has been judged and the masses of
unregenerate men consigned to their eternal fate, more "loose ends" must
be tied up. The two inescapable facts of human life-- the abstract concepts
of death and the grave ("hell" in KJV)--are finally obsolete and are themselves
(figuratively) cast into the lake of fire (Rev.20:14). This bears out what
the apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:26--that the last enemy to be
destroyed will be death.

Then we come to Revelation 21:1 (referred to earlier) in which the apostle
John sees "a new heaven and a new earth." We have already mentioned that
God apparently "renovated" the earth just prior to the Millinneum and restored
it to its Edenic beauty, so what is meant by this statement? I believe
we find the answer in 2 Peter chapter three:

"(1) Beloved, I am now writing you this second letter.
In [both of] them I have stirred up your unsullied (sincere) mind by way of
remembrance; (2) That you should recall the predictions of the holy (consecrated,
dedicated) prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior [given] through
your apostles, [His] special messengers. (3) To begin with, you must know and
understand this, that scoffers (mockers) will come in the last days with scoffing;
[people who] walk after their own fleshly desires. (4) And saying, Where is
the promise of His coming? For since the forefathers fell asleep, all things
have continued exactly as they did from the beginning of creation. (5) For they
willfully overlook and forget this [fact], that heavens [came into] existence
long ago by the word of God, and an earth also which was formed out of water
and by means of water, (6) Through which the world that then [existed] was deluged
with water and perished. (7) But by the same word the present heavens and
earth have been stored up (reserved) for fire, being kept until the day of judgment
and destruction of the ungodly people. (8) Nevertheless, do not let this
one fact escape you, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years,
and a thousand years as one day. (9) The Lord does not delay and be tardy or
slow about what He promises, according to some people's conception of slowness,
but He is long-suffering (extraordinarily patient) toward you, not desiring
that any should perish, but that all should turn to repentance. (10) But
the day of the Lord will come as a thief, and then the heavens will vanish (pass
away) with a thunderous crash, and the [material] elements [of the universe]
will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and the works that are upon it will
be burned up" 2 Peter 3:1-10 (Parallel
Bible, KJV/ Amplified Bible commentary, emphasis mine).

Why do I think (as I stated earlier) that there must be two separate
"renovations" of the earth? Notice verse 7 refers to the earth as being
"stored up (reserved) for fire, being kept until
the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly people." This
gives us the time frame for the "new heavens and new earth" of Revelation
21:1, that will come after the Great White Throne Judgment of 20:11-15,
and in which the ungodly people are judged and destroyed.

Next, we must understand that the "day of the Lord" (vs.10) refers to
the entire period from the Tribulation Period through the events that take
place after the Millennium. The comma after "...come as a thief(,)...."
separates the beginning from the end. The day of the Lord will begin with
a surprise and end with a crash! Notice again that verse 7 says the
"...heavens and earth have been stored up (reserved) for fire...." Why
would God reserve the earth and its atmosphere (heavens) for fire? Why
would He want to want to destroy it, now that it has been restored to its
original beauty? The fingerprints of Satan and sin are all over it!
The "heavens"--the atmosphere surrounding the earth was the abode of Satan
and his hordes of demons. (He is referred to in Ephesians 2:2 as "The prince
of the power of the air"). And multiplied millions have just demonstrated
the hideous reality of sin in their lives through rebellion. The entire
earth and everything surrounding it reeks of sinfulness--so the concept
of sin itself, like death and the grave, must be dealt with and all reminders
of them removed from existence. And for those who insist man's works are
acceptable to God, please take note of the final phrase, "....and the works
that are upon it will be burned up."

But the events described in the Book of Revelation cannot be in strict
chronological order, because to take that position causes many insurmountable
problems for a sensible exegesis of the text. The cart will get before
the horse and tangle up everything! A case in point is found in Chapter
21 where the "holy city new Jerusalem" is concerned. This tremendously
large (vs.16) "city"--described by the angel in verse 9 as being the "bride,
the Lamb's wife"--refers to the eternal abode of the Church of Jesus Christ.
Both the city and its inhabitants are described using "overlapping" terms.
And the appearance of it--seemingly at the very end of things--causes us
some problems. Why? Well, for starters, Galatians 3:28 tells us:

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither
bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in
Christ Jesus" (KJV)

National origins, social rank, and gender have
no bearing once we are in Christ and it seems entirely reasonable to conclude
that they will not label us during eternity. This being the case, verses
24 and 26 give us pause! Those verses are as follows:

"And the nations of them which are saved
shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their
glory and honour into it" Rev. 21:24 (KJV, emphasis mine).

"And they shall bring the glory and honour
of the nations into it" Rev. 21:26 (KJV, emphasis mine)

Furthermore, verse 27 tells us:

"And there shall in no wise enter into it any
thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh
a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life" Rev. 21:27
(KJV)

And to this we add these additional comments of
Chapter 22:

"Blessed are they that do his commandments,
that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through
the gates into the city. [15] For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and
whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh
a lie" Rev. 22:14-15 (KJV)

From these four passages we gather that the redeemed
("the nations of them which are saved")--the ethnic distinctions still
active--as well as "the kings of the earth," will be going in and out of
the city. And not only that, the ungodly are "without", or outside the
gates. All of this taken together leads us to believe that the heavenly
city, new Jerusalem, will somehow be accessable from the earth and available
to redeemed humans (still in mortal bodies) throughout the Millennium.
Great numbers of people on earth will be unregenerate, doing their best
to hide their sin--but will not be allowed to enter. Additionally, verse
two of Chapter 22 tells us that the leaves of the tree of life will be
"for the healing of the nations." Men in glorified bodies will have
no need for healing! This fact alone should tell us that the time frame
of these passages do not place them in eternity. And according to Strong's
Concordance, the Greek word ethnos translated "nations" is:

"probably from Greek 1486 (etho); a race (as of
the same habit), i.e. a tribe; specially a foreign (non-Jewish) one (usually
by implication pagan) :- Gentile, heathen, nation, people"

So we see that this word has more of an application
to the Gentiles than the Jews and just lends further credence to our premise.
The distinctions which identify ethnicities will still be applied during
the Millennium, because the Jews obviously maintain their racial identity
and all 12 tribes of Israel will be judged, or ruled, by the 12 apostles
(Luke 22:30). This being the case, verses 3-8 of Chapter 21 appear to be
parenthetical (and stated in the future tense) because they obviously refer
to the eternal state--specifically, verse 4 which states that "there shall
be no more death."

Some conservative Bible teachers say that the
"new heavens and new earth" of Rev. 21:1 refers to the renovation of the
earth at the beginning of the Millennium, because of the mention that "there
was no more sea." This, they think, tells us the land mass will be greatly
increased to accomodate the population explosion. (There will obviously
be plenty of fresh water, because mortals must have it to live). This
teaching may be correct, because the Lord does say in verse 5, "Behold
I make all things new" and could easily correspond to the passage in 2
Peter in which the earth is renovated by fire. But regardless of which
passage matches up, it seems clear that two separate events are in view--at
the beginning and end of the thousand years.

Well, as best as I can determine, there is just
one more loose end to tie up. We have seen how the Millennium will conclude
and eternity begin. The thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ has now come
to an end and some divine "re-organization" must be done. David, "the sweet
psalmist of Israel" made the following prophetic statement:

"The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my
right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool" Psalm 110:1 (KJV).

All of the Lord's enemies are finally His "footstool"
and have been consigned to their eternal fate. During the interim, He has
been at the right hand of God the Father and Sovereign over all things.
Colossians 1:18 tells us that "in all things He must have the preeminence"
and for this to be the case it seems reasonable to conclude that God the
Father and God the Holy Spirit must concur. For that reason, I believe
the Trinity is presently somewhat "out of balance"--with the Son of God
receiving the honor and glory due Him for the magnitude of His sacrifice
on the cross. But once the earthly Kingdom has ended, this must be corrected
and I believe that is what we see in the following passage:

"For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ
shall all be made alive. [23] But every man in his own order: Christ the
firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. [24] Then
cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even
the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and
power" 1 Cor. 15:22-24 (KJV, emphasis mine).

Our Lord has now "put down," or destroyed, all
opposition and it is time to deliver the Kingdom to God the Father. Once
this is done and the Godhead reverts back to its condition prior to creation,
time will cease to exist and all the redeemed will experience the "ever-present
now" of the eternal state.

In closing we feel it fitting to quote Revelation
21:3-4--the blessed hope we have in Christ:

"And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying,
Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them,
and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be
their God. [4] And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there
shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there
be any more pain: for the former things are passed away" (KJV).

Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

If you have been born again and received Jesus Christ as your personal
Savior, but have been very lukewarm in your spiritual walk with Him, you
need to immediately ask Him for forgiveness and for renewal. He will instantly
forgive you, and fill your heart with the joy of the Holy Spirit. Then,
you need to begin a daily walk of prayer and personal Bible Study.

If you have never placed your trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior,
but have come to sense His reality and the approaching End of the Age,
and want to receive His FREE Gift of Eternal Life, you can do so now, in
the privacy of your home. Once you truly believe in Him as Lord and Savior,
you are spiritually Born Again, and are as assured of Heaven as if you
were already there. Then, you can rest assured that the Kingdom of Antichrist
will not touch you spiritually. If you would like to become Born Again,
turn to our Salvation Page
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and warn people, so that they can see the coming New World Order—Kingdom
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